The India Fan (41 page)

have never said a word.

ooks speak as loud as words. You are just as bad as you were at school.

h, you are going to bring all that up, are you?

es, I am as an example of one piece of folly. This is almost as bad.

She raised her eyebrows. eally, Drusilla, you do give yourself airs just because I have been friendly towards you.

f you don like my manner

know. Youl go home. You would go back to that boring old rectory so you think. But you can. You can marry Colin Brady, because he already married.

never intended to marry him. And I don want to be where I am not wanted.

abian would never let you go.

I flushed slightly. She saw it and laughed. e quite interested in you but don deceive yourself. He never marry you. Fabian is no better than I am, really. But you shouldn be so standoffish with him, you know.

I prepared to go, but she cried piteously, rusilla, wait a minute. I so glad you came in when you did. I think the Khansamah would be very determined. I was really getting just a little scared that he might rape me.

don want to hear any more, Lavinia. What happened was largely your fault. I think you ought to be a little more responsible. I believe he was drugged. I know he grows datura in his garden. This would account for his indiscretion, for I cannot believe that even he would dare presume so much in the normal way.

o what are you going to do now? Tell Dougal what a terrible wife he has? Don bother. He knows already. Tell him he such a bore and that is why I have to find a little divertissement.

f course I shall not tell Dougal.

know. Youl tell Fabian. Drusilla, for Heaven sake don do that.

think perhaps it ought to be mentioned. It intolerable his coming to your bedroom like that.

ell, I am rather irresistible.

nd full of implied promises.

rusilla, please don tell Fabian.

I paused. Then I said, think it might be important in view of . .

h, don be so profound! He a man like any other. They are all the same if you give them half an inch.

hen stop giving away inches though in your case it must go into yards.

promise Drusilla, I promise. Il behave only don tell Fabian.

At length I agreed, but somewhat uneasily, for I felt that the fact that a member of the Indian household should contemplate such a relationship with the lady of the house was significant.

It was about two days later when the news was brought to the house.

I had seen the Khansamah once during that time. He was his old dignified self. He bowed his head in the customary greeting and made no sign that he remembered that scene in Lavinia bedroom and the part I played in it.

Lavinia said that when he came to pay his daily call she received him in her sitting room and she was dressed for the day. It had gone off in a calm manneruch as many such meetings must be going on in houses in the British quarter, where matrons were discussing the day menus with their khansamahs. There had been no reference to what had happened.

ou should have seen me,said Lavinia. ou would have been proud of me. Yes, even you, Drusilla. I just discussed the food and he made suggestions as to what would be suitable. I said, es, Khansamah, I will leave that to you,just as I am sure the most dignified ladies do it. Then it was over.

e will understand that he behaved in a way that will not be tolerated,I said. e wouldn apologise, of course. That would be asking too much. Besides, the fault was largely yours. He has decided to ignore the whole thing, which after all is the best way of dealing with it.

A young man came to the house. He had ridden from afar. He was quite exhausted and wanted to be taken to the Great Khansamah without delay.

In due course we learned that the message that had been brought was from the Khansamah brother, and that the Khansamah son, Asraf, who had recently been married to Roshanara, was dead. He had been murdered.

The Khansamah shut himself into his room in mourning. A pall of gloom fell over the house. Fabian was deeply disturbed. Tom Keeping and Dougal were in the study with Fabian for a long time. They did not emerge for dinner and, as on other occasions, trays were sent to the study.

Lavinia and I met over dinner alone. We talked, as the whole household was talking, about Asraf death.

e was so young,I said. e and Roshanara have only just been married. Who could have wanted to kill him?

Even Lavinia was shocked.

oor Khansamah. It is such a blow to him. His only son!

t is terrible,I said, and felt sorry for the man in spite of the fact that he was fast becoming a sinister figure in my imagination.

Lavinia said she would retire early and she went to her room. I was in no mood for sleep. I felt very disturbed. I wondered what would happen to Roshanara. Poor child, she was so young.

I sat in the drawing room in the dark, with the curtains drawn back so that I could look out on the beauty of the moonlit garden.

Just as I was thinking I would retire, the door opened and Fabian came in.

ello,he said. till up? Where is Lavinia?

he has gone to bed.

nd you are sitting here alone?

es. All this is so disturbing.

He shut the door and advanced into the room. agree,he said. ery disturbing.

hat does it mean?I asked.

t means that for some reason Asraf has been murdered.

erhaps it is one of those thugs. They murder without reason.

He was silent for a while. Then he said, o I do not think it was the thugs this time though it might be connected with them.

ou think that someone murdered not just for the sake of killing but for a definite reason?

He sat down opposite me. t is imperative that we find out what is going on.

understand that.

t could be of the utmost importance to us. I don like the way things look. I have been discussing with Dougal and Tom the possibility of getting Lavinia and you away with the children.

way! You mean

should feel happier.He smiled at me a little sardonically. don mean happier exactly I mean relieved.

don think Lavinia would go.

avinia? She will go where and when she is told to go.

he has a will of her own.

t a pity she hasn some sense to go with it.

don think I would like to be sent here and there like a parcel.

lease don be difficult. Things are hard enough to decide, so don make them worse.

t is just that one wants to have a little say in what happens to one.

ou have no idea what is going on and yet you want to make decisions. Women and children should not be here.

ou raised no objections to Lavinia coming out here. The children were born out here.

he came with her husband. I could not arrange where the children were born. I am just stating that it is unfortunate that she and they and you are here. But all that came about naturally enough. I blame myself for bringing you and Miss Philwright out.

ou did not bring us out.

t was my suggestion that you come.

hy?

thought perhaps you would have some influence on Lavinia. You did in the past and, as I believe I told you or implied at least I also considered the benefits your presence here would give me.

ecause you think with your mother that it is necessary for the children to have an English governess and an English nanny.

ut of course

nd now you regret it.

or one reason only. I don like the situation here and I think it would be better not to have too many women and children around.

think your concern does you credit.

He said with a touch of sarcasm, ou know the real reason why I manoeuvered your visit. It was because I wanted a little pleasure for myself.

am surprised that you should think I could provide it.

ou can be. You know, for one thing, how I enjoy these spirited conversations also, I wanted to get you away from the odious Colin Brady.

thought he was regarded as a devoted Framling subject.

ll the more reason why I should dislike him. I wanted to see you so I arranged it. Besides, what would you have done at home? You couldn stay at the rectory without marrying Brady. Where would you have gone?

here I did go. To my old nurse.

h yes, that good woman. I wanted you here, that was all. In spite of your indifference to me, I am fond of you, Drusilla.

I hoped I did not show the pleasure I felt. He was irrepressible. He must know that I would never indulge in a light love affair with him; but he never gave up.

I changed the subject. hy are you so disturbed now?

his Asraf business.

he murder?

xactly. Why was he killed? He was little more than a boy. Why? It is something we have to find out quickly. If it were the Thugs, I think I would feel easier. But this was an isolated killing. Thugs deal in numbers. The blood of one innocent boy would not placate Kali for long. As much as I would deplore further outbreaks, I feel that would be more understandable than this mystery. You see, this comes back to our own household. I have a feeling that that is significant.

an you question the Khansamah?

He shook his head. t might be dangerous. We have to find out what is going on. Why was Asraf murdered? We must know whether it was a ritual killing or for some other reason. Tom has left at once for the tea plantation. We may have some news when he gets back.

t is all very mysterious.

here are many mysteries in this country. Drusilla, I think I should warn you. I may decide that you would have to go at a moment notice. I should have sent you off before now, but travelling is so difficult and the journey might prove more dangerous than staying here. It might be necessary to move you to another town here in India. But we have to understand what this murder means first. So much depends on what is behind it.

There was silence for a few moments. Then he said, ow peaceful it seems out there He did not go on. I stood up suddenly. I wondered what Lavinia would think if she came down and found me in this darkened room with her brother.

I said, will say good night.

I heard him laugh. ou think being here alone with me is a little improper?

Again he was reading my thoughts, which surprised and disconcerted me every time I discovered it.

h certainly not.

o? Perhaps you are not quite so conventional as I sometimes think. Well, you came on a very hazardous journey. You came with great risk across the desert so it is hardly likely that you can be afraid of me just because we are alone and in a darkened room.

hat an idea!I said lightly.

es, it is, isn it? Stay awhile, Drusilla.

h, I am very tired. I think I should go to bed.

on worry too much about what I have told you. I may be wrong. There could be a logical answer to all these things chains of coincidence and that sort of thing. But one must find out and be prepared.

f course.

would be most unhappy if you had to go.

t is kind of you to say so.

t is merely truthful. I wish you were not so afraid.

am not afraid of you, you know.

fraid of yourself, perhaps?

assure you I am by no means overawed or in terror of myself.

didn mean in that way.

must go.

He took my hand and kissed it.

rusilla, you know I am very fond of you.

hank you.

on thank me for what I can help. Stay awhile. Let talk. Let stop hedging, shall we?

was not aware of hedging.

t built up between us. You planted the seeds and they grow like weeds of the most prolific kind. I know what started it. It was that business in France. It had more effect on you than it had on Lavinia. You decided that all men are liars and deceivers and you have made up your mind never to be lied to or deceived.

think you are talking about something of which you are quite ignorant.

ell, give me a chance to learn. I shall be your humble pupil.

am sure you would never be humble nor take instruction from me. So Il say good night. I will remember what you told me and hold myself in readiness for departure at any moment.

hope it doesn come to that.

evertheless I shall be prepared.

o you insist on going?

must,I said. ood night.

I went upstairs in a mood of exhilaration. I wished that I could believe it when I told myself I was indifferent to him.

Alice showed me a letter Tom Keeping had left for her to read after he had gone. He was expecting to return before long and then perhaps she would have an answer for him. He was asking her to marry him. He knew that she would not want to give a hasty reply and would need time to think. They had known each other such a short time, but he himself was certain that he wanted to marry her.

he times are somewhat uneasy,he wrote. shall be here for some years, I imagine. You would be travelling with me. It could be dangerous at times and there would be occasions when we would be apart. I do want you to consider all this. I thought it better to write, for I did not want my feelings to carry me away to such an extent that I glossed over the difficulties. Everything will be different from what you have known. But I love you, Alice, and if you care for me I should be the happiest man on Earth.

I was deeply moved when I read it. It might not have been an effusive love letter, but it conveyed a deep sincerity.

I looked at Alice and I did not have to ask what her answer would be.

would not have believed such a thing could happen to me,she said. never thought for one moment that any man would want to marry me and a man like Tom. I feel I must be dreaming.

Dear Alice! She did look bemused, but incredibly happy.

h, Alice,I said. t wonderful. It a beautiful romance.

hat it should happen to me! I can believe it. Do you think he really means it?

f course he means it. I so happy for you.

couldn marry him yet.

hy not?

hat about my job here? The Countess

he Countess wouldn care about you if it suited her. Of course, you must marry him. You must begin this wonderful life as soon as you can.